Trump says US paid no money to North Korea over Otto Warmbier

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US President Donald Trump on Friday (April 26) said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of Otto Warmbier, a day after a report said Trump had approved a US$2 million (S$2.7 million) bill from Pyongyang for the American student's care.

"No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else," Trump wrote in a tweet.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a US$2 million bill from Pyongyang to cover its care of the comatose college student, who was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months until June 2017.

The Treasury Department received the bill from North Korea and it remained unpaid through 2017, the Post reported. It was not clear whether the administration paid the invoice later.

Trump's tweet did not address whether any agreement had been made, and representatives for the White House, the State Department and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from Ohio visiting North Korea as a tourist, was imprisoned in January 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for allegedly trying to steal an item with a propaganda slogan from his hotel, North Korean state media said.

An Ohio coroner said Warmbier died from lack of oxygen and blood to his brain. North Korea, which has dismissed claims that it tortured the student, blamed food poisoning and a sleeping pill.

Last December, a US court ordered North Korea to pay US$501 million in damages for the torture and death of Warmbier.

In his tweet on Friday morning, Trump defended his handling of hostage negotiations and slammed efforts by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

He noted that the Obama administration had swapped five Taliban prisoners to secure the release of Bowe Bergdahl, a US Army sergeant who has since been dishonourably discharged.

Trump also accused Obama officials of paying ransom money in exchange for the return of four detained Americans in 2016, a charge the Obama administration has denied.

A spokeswoman for Obama's office had no immediate comment on Trump's tweet.

Ned Price, the spokesman for a foreign policy group started by former Obama administration officials, said, "President Trump is, whether wilfully or ignorantly, conflating very different issues."

The Obama administration had said the payment of US$400 million to Iran settled a longstanding Iranian claim at the Hague that coincided with four detained Americans' return but was not a ransom.

Obama had also defended the deal that led to Bergdahl's release and later changed the way the US government handles cases in which Americans are detained by militant groups following a six-month review.

The Straits Times

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